Inauguration and transition

Inaugural date

Hawaii has one of the earliest gubernatorial inaugurations in the Union. The argument for having the governor and lieutenant governor take office so early is to give him time to prepare legislation and a budget before the general assembly sits. Governor-elect Neil Abercrombie and Lieutenant Governor-elect Brian E. Schatz were sworn in at noon, local time, on December 6, 2010.

Transition team

Governor-elect Neil Abercrombe's transition website was at NewDayHawaii.org. On November 4, 2010, Abercrombie named his campaign manager, Bill Kaneko, as head of the transition effort.[4]

Appointments in the Abercrombie/Schatz Administration

Lieutenant Governor-elect Schatz named Kimberley Wong Yoshimoto, his campaign coordinator during the election, as his Chief of Staff. Joining her as Deputy Chief of Staff to the Lieutenant Governor was attorney Malia Oshima Paul.[5]

Governor-elect Abercrombie named campaign operations manager Amy Asselbaye as Chief of Staff. Immediately under Asselbaye, as Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor, was Andrew Aoki, deputy campaign manager during Abercrombie's election bid.[6]

Asselbaye was tasked with managing cabinet appointments and policy implementation while Aoki was charged with policy planning and strategy.